Plastic Surgery Client Database Hacked, Reality TV Stars Speak Out

British celebrities Lauren Pope (L) and Amy Childs, who star in scripted reality show The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE), have spoken out about the recent security breach to the UK’s Harley Medical Group’s client database. Though they did not get their own work done at The Harley Medical Group, the actresses have deep sympathy for those whose data was stolen.

Though pair has been very open about their own procedures (rhinoplasty and breast augmentation), they respect that not everyone wants to be. Amy tells OK!, “A lot of people like to keep procedures private. It's usually because you're not confident about your body." Lauren shares her costar’s sentiment, "The thought of it going public is devastating."

What happened exactly? The Sun reports that hackers targeted The Harley Medical Group, which has 21 UK clinics, in order to steal data (which includes names, ages, phone numbers, and addresses) from potential plastic surgery patients — nearly 500,000 of them! — to use for blackmailing purposes.

The Harley Medical Group’s last Facebook post (yesterday) was on smoothies, but it has responded to the crisis via its Twitter handle, “Please be aware we acted quickly at the time of the breach and wrote to all affected immediately.” It continues, “We apologise initial enquiries were accessed illegally and have taken steps to ensure this will not happen in the future.” It has also assured its nearly 1700 followers that “clinical and financial information however remains totally secure.”

My information was stolen! What do I do next?CNN Moneyreleased some helpful tips from when Target’s database was compromised back in November and December 2013:

Be proactive. If you have even the inkling that you might have been affected by a security breach, reach out to the source — in this case The Harley Medical Group — directly.

Be aware that you may be getting fake calls, emails, and or letters asking for more information or money.

Monitor your financial records. Though the Harley Medical Group has stated that “clinical and financial information however remains totally secure” via its Twitter account, it never hurts to keep close watch on your credit and debit card logs for the next couple months to make sure there’s nothing out of order.